Shutdown impacts some Illinois hospital inspections

SPRINGFIELD — Illinois is scaling back on certain hospital and nursing home inspections because of the partial federal government shutdown, state officials said.

The Illinois Department of Public Health gets about $1.3 million a month to pay for inspections of medical facilities, but that money’s been stopped because of the shutdown, according to a report by the Springfield bureau of Lee Enterprises newspapers.

IDPH spokeswoman Melaney Arnold said the agency is still inspecting facilities when the department receives credible complaints about a location. She says the lack of money isn’t creating an immediate problem, but there could be more serious consequences if the 11-day shutdown continues.

“A couple of weeks may not have that big of an impact,” she said. “If the shutdown persists for an extended period of time, cash flow and supporting federal programs will become a more critical issue in the weeks ahead.”

Illinois is one of the top national recipients of federal money to pay for inspections of hospitals, nursing homes and other health care facilities.